Cation Distribution Tuning of Solution Combusted CoFe۲O۴ Powders

In this work, the different fuels (citric acid, glycine and urea) were used for solution combustion synthesis of CoFe۲O۴ powders. X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, electron microscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry techniques were employed for characterization of phase evolution, cation distribution, microstructure and magnetic properties of the as-combusted CoFe۲O۴ powders. Single phase CoFe۲O۴ powders with partially inverse structure in which the Co۲+ cations are distributed in both tetrahedral and octahedral sites were synthesized by the citric acid, glycine and urea fuels. The as-combusted CoFe۲O۴ powders by the citric acid fuel exhibited the highest inversion coefficient. The crystallite size of the as-combusted CoFe۲O۴ powders synthesized by urea fuel was ۱۵ nm, increased to ۴۱ and ۵۲ nm for the glycine and citric acid fuels, respectively. Furthermore, the solution combusted CoFe۲O۴ powders showed ferromagnetic behavior with saturation magnetization of ۶۱.۹, ۶۳.۶ and ۴۱.۶ emu/g for the citric acid, glycine and urea fuels, respectively. The high crystallinity and particle size of the as-combusted CoFe۲O۴ powders using glycine fuel led to the highest magnetization and the moderate coercivity.

Keywords:

Fuel , Cation distribution , Inversion coefficient , Magnetic properties